Fixed-Rate vs. Adjustable-Rate Home Mortgages
October 1st, 2011A home is where the heart is. When you want to build your very own family, you will need a home of your own. However, owning a home is not as easy as it seems. Well, if you are very wealthy and have lots of money saved; owning a house will be easy because you can pay the total price of the house you want in cash. However, if you do not have enough money saved up yet, you can still purchase a house by financing it through a mortgage loan.
A mortgage loan is a loan given by a bank or any other lending institution so that a person can afford to purchase a house he wants. When a mortgage loan is given to a person, he is allowed to use the bank’s money to purchase a home of his choice. The bank giving the loan will add interest on the total amount of cash value, called the principal, borrowed by the person. The interest will depend on the current economic indicators.
There are basically two types of home mortgages which a person can choose to purchase the first home or for a home refinance. These are the fixed-rate mortgage and the adjustable-rate mortgages. Each type of mortgage has its own advantages and disadvantages. You must understand the differences between these two types so that you can choose the best one that suits your needs.
The Fixed-Rate Home Mortgage: If you are struggling with your budget; the fixed-rate home mortgage is ideal for you. Fixed-rate home mortgages are charged with a set rate of interest which is fixed for the entire term of the loan. The advantage of a fixed-rate home mortgage is that the total amount that you have to pay will remain the same. The payments you will make consist primarily of interest payments during the initial years of the term. However, during the later part of the term, the payments will go towards the reduction of your loan principal.
Another advantage with a fixed-rate mortgage, which is actually considered as the main advantage is: the person who takes the loan is protected from any sudden and potentially significant increase in monthly mortgage payments due to the rise of interest rates. Economies of even the most developed countries such as the US are very volatile and can change dramatically at any moment. This leads to inflation will cause an increase in the interest rates charged by banks on their loans. A fixed-rate mortgage protects a loan borrower from these changes. This means that whatever payments computed through a mortgage calculator will not change throughout the loan’s term.
The Adjustable-Rate Home Mortgage. An adjustable-rate home mortgage (ARM) has interest rates that vary over time. An ARM starts out by offering an interest rate which is lower than the interest rates offered by fixed-rate mortgages. However, this rate will only last for a specific part of the total loan term. As the term progresses, the interest being charged by the bank will increase until it surpasses the going rate for fixed-rate mortgages.
The low interest rate of the ARM will only remain constant only for a fixed period. After this period is reached, the interest rates are adjusted at a pre-arranged frequency.
Adjusted-rate mortgages can be hard to understand because of the many factors affecting the adjustment of interest being charged on the loan. The adjustments of the interest rates depend on different adjustment indexes such as the interest rate on certificates of deposit, the treasury bills or the LIBOR rate. However, a person who plans to apply for an adjusted-rate mortgage to purchase a home may negotiate with the lending institution to apply caps and ceilings on the interest charges on the loan. Ceiling refers to the highest amount of interest that can be charged on the loan.
ARM is an ideal option for most people because they offer lower initial payments and allow them to qualify for larger loans. Not only that. In an economy with a falling interest rate, the person with an ARM will be able to enjoy lower interest rates as the loan term progresses. However, when interest rates rise due to poor economic indexers, a person may find himself paying a significantly higher monthly payment than what he bargained for.
Article by John Hoots of Chicago, who is a specialist in mortgages. For more information on mortgage broker in Chicago, visit his site today.